1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to the technology and products widely categorized as Internet Traffic Management (ITM). More particularly, the invention relates to Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB). The method described here is a method and apparatus in various modes for discovering client proximity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the Internet has grown and Web access has become mission critical, Web sites have responded to the demand by adding such features as redundancy and load balancing. Accordingly, it has become necessary to direct a client to the geographically closest and least busy Web site. The practice of dispersing data out to the edge of the Internet and closer to the client is widely accepted as beneficial. This practice is useless, however, if client requests are not directed to the data that has been dispersed closest to them.
Current technologies that attempt to provide a measure of geographic distribution of Web requests rely primarily on Domain Name System (DNS) solutions. While they provide some load sharing capabilities, much the same as similar approaches provided before the advent of local server load balancing, DNS solutions have inherent problems that are difficult and resource-intensive to resolve. In addition, DNS solutions are incapable of being content aware and are at best useful in assisting a more robust approach by initially guiding a client to a Web resource.
Using technologies such as service level monitoring and routing hacks, complex proprietary solutions have been created which address some of the above problems. These solutions are typically unique, extremely costly, and vary widely from implementation to implementation.